David Hicks

David Hicks as he was commonly known in and outside of the industry, perhaps know better to his parents as David Nightingale Hicks was one of the most intelligent and talented interior designers of his time, bringing a great deal of inspiration to those in the inspiration because of the work he used to produce, include the entire team of Eatonnott. He created many one-off bespoke decor designs for clients and for his own use (making your own desirable wall decor for your home isn’t such a bad talent to possess) and is why he is one of the many interior designs we look up to for when we need inspiration for our customer commisions.

Enough about us, continue on to find more about David Hicks, his life and his desirable work.

David Nightingale Hicks

Born 25 March, David Nightingale Hicks was an interior designer and decorator who was most known for the work he produced for his commonly famous clientele using a range of bold colours when mixing antique and modern furnishing together to produce bespoke, one of a kind David Hicks furniture and contemporary art. The son of a stockbroker, Herbert Hicks and Iris Elsie, David attended Charterhouse School and went on to graduate from the Central School of Arts and Crafts.

David Hicks Interiors

Most famous for his work as an interior designer, David Hicks interiors has lived on throughout the decades, his work is still loved by many today and even in the most commercial of places, it is still on display for all to see. Whether it’s a 5-star restaurant or world famous hotel, David Nightingale Hicks’ work had an effect on many areas, bringing out the best in any space.

Notably, because of the work he did with his famous clientele, Hicks created carpets for Windsor Castle and also decorated an apartment in Buckingham Palace for the Prince Of Wales. He also started to create patterned carpets and fabrics after looking at the market and considered that none of them were good enough.

David Hicks Designs

His hyper-dynamic colour sense was the reason that David Hicks designs were admired by many and copied by plenty of people in the industry. He designed apartments in Manhattan for international clientele, all at the same time he was creating and promoting his carpet and fabric collection.

Hicks do many things his way, there were a couple of key elements, David stood by when creating designs for his clients, here they are;

Use of Bold Colours: David Hicks mostly used a wide range of bold colours which would clash with other bold colours he would use, using interior decor piece such as carpets, curtains and wall hangings to help him achieve this effect.

Geometric patterns: Whether they were a part of the curtains, furniture, carpet or any other decor pieces, Hicks signature geometric patterns he is known for today added modern style to the home. He began to design these patterns in 1963 as anything currently on the market did not suit his taste. Designed have followed this geometric trend and now use designs like Octorgrams and Hexagons as there go to design.

Old and new: Hicks managed to create spaces with old and new furniture, whether they were of modern design or took inspiration from classic antique French style, David always found a way to put these two contrasting pieces together and was always able to create something beautiful.

David Hicks Book’s

Being a man of such intellect and full of talent, it was pretty obvious he would create one book in his lifetime, and which he did, several in fact. A lot of the book’s contents was about the method behind his madness, revealing the secrets of his thought process when tackling a new interior space or a totally unique bespoke furniture project. David Hicks Books are still referenced to this very day for young and new interior designers.

David Hicks On Living with Taste

David Hicks on Living with Taste is a follow up volume of the David Hicks on Decoration which has been created due to the success of the initial volume, in this book he demonstrates with both words and visually, how people from all backgrounds and all kinds of income streams can too create spaces of warmth and appropriate taste using functional design techniques David displays and discusses in this book.

Covering all aspects of living with taste, David Hicks talks about even the nichest of things, such as flower arrangements, wall decor, seating, general styling, lighting and home interior decoration. Showing that even the smallest things can turn your home into a beautiful space, whether its kitchen cutlery or antique french style door handles.

Perhaps a more expensive read, you can get your own David Hicks On Living with Taste book from Beaux Books

Living with Design

Living with Design is a book that helps offer an insight into David Hicks’ mind, allowing to get some insight into what principles and ideas guide his work, whether that’s when he is designing a drawing room, hanging paintings in a study or rearranging a living room and adding flowers. He also touches on the more personal influences he has received over the years which has helped to shape his career and his award-winning method of working.

On top of discussing himself, he also goes on to speak about how good taste can influence any person along with how good interior designs can do to contribute to society and how specifically his own work has contributed to the field of carpet design and the use of bold and totally unique colours and patterns.

David Hicks on Decoration with Fabrics

The fourth volume in his decoration series, David Hicks on Decoration with Fabrics is a book that gives the reader an understanding of his treatment of curtains, seating upholstery, bed hangings and fabric covered walls. Which, like previous books, gives you the knowledge you need to go away and to use the information laid out to you in your very own interior projects, regardless of how big your income stream is.

Through the use of imagery of past interior design projects, he teaches the reader how to combine, with success, different patterns, colours and textures. Known for his use of bold, strong colours and patterns, you can see here these in full action in real life project scenario.

David Hicks on Home Decoration

With a striking cross on the books front cover, iconic design of his, you can already see that the David Hicks on Home Decoration is going to be an inspiring book, full to the brim of informative and actionable information.

In this volume, Hicks turns to the general subject of interior decoration. He uses recent projects for reference when explaining his methods on how to create a good interior space, using his own captions to inform the reader, giving even more insight. Explaining that once he became more successful he took on more commercial work, therefore the book contains both private and public examples of his work.

The interiors which are used for reference in his book are from all around the world, proving that his methods work regardless of culture.

Get your very own David Hicks on Home Decoration edition here.

David Hicks on Bathrooms

A collaborative effort of many other interior designers, David Hicks on Bathrooms is more so about the general industry and their viewers on bathroom designs than it is about him and his own experiences. Unquestionably the book will have an effect on the reader’s future decisions when it comes to decorating their bathroom, the 32 pages of pure colour will help guide you aesthetic success when styling your bathroom space.

In this 3rd book of Hicks,’ he shows him and many others work in the United States, Switzerland, England, France, just to name a few countries. Proving that no matter the culture, the methods used when decorating your bathroom can work anywhere. Showing rooms what were made by complete beginners, comparing their work to authoritative figures allowing the reader a way to relate to those who are successful.

David Hicks Garden Design

Taking his inspiring design from within the home, outside the home David Hicks Garden Design used his own style to create garden layouts that were uncompromising and that were functional in any space. His aim with his garden design and with this book was to use contrasting pieces, new and old, to create a practical and experimental design that has the ability to work in the reader’s very own outdoor space.

Irish Country Houses: A Chronicle of Change

An alternative to many of his books, typically speaking about himself and his own work, Irish Country Houses: A Chronicle of Change is a documentation of the unchanged Irish Country House’s, discussing how they have been left still in a changed world. Buildings that were once home to the rich, now stand still without outdated and unfavourited decoration and furniture.

For this book, David Hicks was granted unique access to the houses, castles and unpublished photographs of these buildings and the families that used to live in them, allowing Hicks to produce this visual record of once beautiful buildings. Featuring hundreds of colour and black and white photos to visually stimulate the reader.